6.5 - Masculine nouns

You will see that the scheme of masculine nouns, presented in the chart below, has many similarities to the scheme of feminine nouns. There are, however, more details and rules to remember. For the time being just concentrate on the similarities and remember the typical endings for each case.

^† батьки (plural) can also mean parents.

Notes and reminders

1. Inanimate nouns (i.e. not denoting humans or animals) in the accusative singular and plural have the same form as in the nominative. In the above chart these are marked with an asterisk (*).
2. In closed syllables о changes to і, e.g. стіл – стола, кінь – коня.
3. In the vocative singular of soft nouns ending in -ець, ц changes to ч, e.g. хлопець – хлопче.
4. In the vocative singular of the hard group most nouns end in е; a small number of important nouns (mainly, but not exclusively, relating to kinship) have the ending у: син – сину, дід – діду, тато – тату, батько – батьку.
5. There are alternative endings in the dative singular (у/ю for inanimate nouns and ові/еві/єві for animate, although у/ю is also used for animate nouns.
6. In the locative singular the alternative endings у and ю are sometimes used for animate nouns, e.g. батьку, лікарю, читачу.
7. As for feminine nouns, before an ending in і, к changes to ц, х changes to с, г changes to з.
8. The locative singular usually ends in i, but ends in у in nouns ending in -ок (ринок – на ринку), -ак (літак – в літаку), -ик (тупик – в тупику), -ник (заповідник – у заповіднику), as well as in many nouns ending in a consonant + к (в парку). This also applies to a small number of short nouns mentioned in the next unit.
9. In the genitive singular some nouns end in а/я and others in у/ю. This point is addressed in greater detail in Unit 7.

To practise identifying the cases of masculine nouns go to Exercise 6.5A and Exercise 6.5B.